Aryna Sabalenka to skip Paris 2024 Olympics to ‘take care of health’ – ‘Too much for the scheduling’ – Eurosport

World No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka will not compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games due to the scheduling demands of switching from grass back to clay.

The tennis event at the Games starts on July 27 and will be played on clay at Roland-Garros, the home of the French Open.

It is held two weeks after Wimbledon, which is played on grass, and three weeks before the hard-court US Open.

“I’m not going to play the Olympics,” said Sabalenka.

“Especially with all the struggles I’ve been struggling with the last months, I feel I have to take care of my health. It’s too much for the scheduling.”

Sabalenka would be permitted to play at the Games despite being Belarusian.

Some individual athletes from Russia and Belarus have been permitted to compete in Paris as neutral athletes despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Sabalenka said her decision not to compete was not because she couldn’t represent Belarus.

“You have to sacrifice something,” she said.

“I prefer to have a little rest to make sure physically and health-wise I’m ready for the hard courts…and I’ll have a good preparation before going to the hard court season. I feel that this is safer and better for my body.”

Sabalenka is appearing at the German Open in Berlin this week.

She will be the second seed at the tournament behind Coco Gauff, with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek absent due to “overall physical and mental fatigue” following the clay season.

“It was the worst experience I had in my life on court,” Sabalenka said about that loss.

“I’ve played while being ill, I’ve played with injuries, but when you have a stomach bug and you don’t have any energy to play and you’re in the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, that was really terrible experience. But it is how it is.

“I think my body was just asking for some rest. I managed to find a couple of days to chill and recover after the tough months.”

Sabalenka plays Daria Kasatkina in her opening match in Berlin.